25th April 2024
We had an amazing time at last year’s National Theatre Connections Festival, making it through to the live performances in London! So you can only imagine how excited we are to get involved once again this year. Each year National Theatre Connections draws together ten new plays for young people to perform, from some of the UK's most exciting and popular playwrights.
This year our team of talented performers took on ‘Orchestra’ by Charlie Josephine, working together to reimagine the script and bring it to life for SOLD OUT audiences at Bristol Old Vic and our College theatre.
We caught up with Dom and Rhianna to hear more about their performance for this year’s festival.
Can you give us an overview of the play?
RHIANNA: It’s about a group of kids who are the country’s best wind-orchestra, and it follows their mental health struggles as they strive for perfection to maintain their title. One character in particular is super focused on getting everything perfect which sadly drives her to a full breakdown, meaning she can’t be in the final performance. The group go on with the show, and although it isn’t the best they still get it done which is all that matters.
DOM: The character who replaces her is known as ‘the poor one’ and there’s a big fuss made over them coming in and taking her place.
Wow, so it taps into a lot of things including mental health and class, sounds really interesting!
DOM: Yeah there’s a lot going on and it was a bit confusing when we first read it as nobody leaves the stage except for one moment and there’s no set scenes, just lines.
Did you find that style quite tiring, constantly performing and everyone always being on the stage?
RHIANNA: Not particularly it was just a case of getting used to a new idea and style that some of us hadn’t tried before.
Cool, I imagine a lot of work goes into interpreting a script like that and deciding how you’ll perform?
DOM: We worked with Ellie [our teacher] to create blocks of lines and then came up with how we would transition between the blocks.
So it’s like a collaboration between you and your teacher?
DOM: Yeah we as the cast work together with Ellie and the assistant director (who’s also a student) to interpret it and come up with the plan. We all bring our ideas to the table meaning we create something we’re all really excited about.
Would you guys work like this when you were at school?
RHIANNA: We definitely get a lot more input now and get to try out new things. There’s a lot of stuff that I’d never practiced before like physicality. I really like how many new methods we get to study and how we’re more involved with deciding the direction.
So what was your favourite part of the play?
DOM: The last movement will always be a good memory for me. It almost feels like you’re not acting as we’re all just dancing and enjoying ourselves. A really nice way to end the show.
RHIANNA: It was really fun to show the instruments without actually having instruments. Instead we’d use our bodies to represent them, sometimes making the noise or the shape or being the instrument itself. We all researched our instruments – I was a bass clarinet and Dom was the first trumpet. So it was really interesting learning more about them to help with our performance.
Rhianna (front, right) embodying a bass clarinet
What was it like performing for a SOLD OUT audience at The Old Vic?
DOM: Really cool! We both got to do it last year as well. It’s such a great day out.
RHIANNA: It’s really interesting watching them do all of the technical side of things as well, as we’re there for the whole day so we get to see them set up too.
What’s the best thing about performing?
RHIANNA: It’s a combination of things for me. The feeling you get just before the performance thinking about how hard you’ve worked towards it is really exhilarating. Then when you’re on the stage and you are the character, it’s cool getting really into it and feel a connection. We’ve performed a lot together ...
DOM: … it seems to be like every show or exam we do, we’re always in the same group …
RHIANNA: … it just works! It also helps with our communication skills and socially, with performing it helps you feel more outgoing.
DOM: Definitely! I can see my confidence has improved massively. At the start of Year 12 we did a musical I had like one solo line, and I was really nervous, but this year in the musical I had a whole song and I feel like I performed it really well.
Dom (front, right) performing his solo
Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
DOM: For me I like to sit by myself for a bit and just listen to music, and then when we’re ready to go on I always try to be the first in the wing, even if I’m not the first person to go on!
RHIANNA: It depends, sometimes I like to have a motivational conversation with everyone in a huddle. We always get time to be by ourselves and chill after our big group warm up, so our energy levels are just right before we go on stage.
Great and I’m sure you’ll put those relaxation/motivation techniques to good use during exam season. Anything else you’d like to add?
DOM: National Theatre is a really great experience for everyone involved, and even if you don’t get to London you get to perform at Bristol Old Vic so it’s a great opportunity either way!
RHIANNA: Agreed! Just grab the opportunity while it’s there!
We’ll be waiting in the wings keeping everything crossed for May when we’ll find out if we’ll be heading to London again this year to perform at the National Theatre!
